Page:Delight - de la Roche - 1926.djvu/40

 palate with which Charley was endowed, so that Queenie's marching song, while spirited, for she never sang and marched so well as in the high tide of excitement in the kitchen, came haltingly as to words. She sang:

With uplifted face, starry eyes, and flaxen hair flying, she swept past the minions that slaved about her, under trays, under kettles of boiling water, under scuttles of coal, she passed unscathed. If only she could have taken this splendid hauteur with her to school where, because of her affliction, she was the butt of the class, returning home in tears, day after day, chased to the very door by children who took her slate pencils, pulled her hair, and mimicked her unintelligible speech!

"Will you have some haddie?" asked Mrs. Bye, treating Delight as a guest. "And potatoes?"

"Yes, please."

"I don't s'pose you'd like any porridge?" This was said with a certain aggressiveness.

"Oh, Mrs. Bye, it wasn't my fault about the porridge, truly. The men just fancied Forces this morning. They'll be back to their porridge right enough tomorrow."

"Well, for goodness sake try to get them back or we'll have housekeeper after us."

They sat down with dishes of hot food before them. Annie, her sleek dark head bent in a listening posture, kept one ear open for a step in the dining-room. Pearl, a fat girl, with sleepy hazel eyes, slowly consumed a large bowl of porridge and milk. Mrs. Bye rarely ate anything but bread and tea. She called coaxingly to Queenie: